The present invention relates to a vehicle mountable hydraulic cable reel apparatus for extremely heavy power cable. The cable reel mechanism is rotatable on a turntable. The reel may be driven in one of two directions to pay out or pull in the cable attached to the reel, and the cable reel spool is removable.
In the past, in laying or retrieving cable with a vehicle mountable cable reel apparatus, when the cable was behind the vehicle, satisfactory results were realized. However, if the vehicle was limited to the road or by the conditions of the terrain, or the cable would be off at an angle to the vehicle, there were problems in directing the cable when it was laid and in stressing the cable when it was retrieved. It was necessary to employ men during the cable laying or retrieving operations to assist in guiding when the cable was offset to the left or the right of the cable reel apparatus. The employment of men added expense and labor problems and kept operations slow and irregular.